When most companies say free they mean free of charge, if they want to say open source they say open source, because that’s the term the world understands. Basically only the FSF uses free to mean Free Software.
Yeah, I know, that’s my point. The distinction is the reason companies don’t like to use confusing terms: “free” has only one meaning for them in the context of software.
> "Free software" and "open source software" are two terms for the same thing: software released under licenses that guarantee a certain, specific set of freedoms.
> “Free software” means software that respects users' freedom and community. Roughly, it means that the users have the freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. Thus, “free software” is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech,” not as in “free beer”. We sometimes call it “libre software” to show we do not mean it is gratis.
Many companies use "open source" or simply "open" in a way that isn't compatible with the open source definition. This is known as open washing. A good, non-Microsoft example is Epic Games and Unreal Tournament 4. They talk a lot about being "open", but the source code and assets are all proprietary.
